Monday, February 28, 2011

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger refused to blame his players after their 2-1 Carling Cup defeat by Birmingham. He said: "A little misunderstanding had a great consequence on the game and both players are destroyed. I blame no-one. When these things happen late in the game there is no time to rectify it."

-McLeish hails greatest achievementBirmingham boss Alex McLeish said his side's Carling Cup final victory over Arsenal at Wembley is his "greatest achievement" as a manager. McLeish said: "I am so pleased for the fans, they have craved victory for a long time. Relatively speaking, it is my greatest achievement. For a small club like ours to beat Arsenal was a titanic effort."

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The royal family of Qatar is preparing a fresh £1.5billion bid for Manchester United after the Glazers rejected an earlier offer.A source close to the oil-rich emirate’s ruling Al Thani family confirmed that it tried to tempt the Glazers earlier this month with an offer of just over £1bn.

The bid was turned down by the Americans, who are holding out for closer to £1.8bn

But the Al Thanis are on the verge of raising the stakes, partly motivated by rivalry with the Abu Dhabi royal family, whose wealth has transformed United’s arch-rivals Manchester City into title contenders. Going head to head on the pitch would give the Al Thanis the opportunity to get one over on their Gulf neighbours, with the Manchester football scene offering a high-profile battleground. Qatar is also keen to portray itself as a football-loving nation, after critics said it did not deserve to win the right to host the 2022 World Cup, because of its lack of football history.

United strenuously deny that they have received any bid from Qatar Holdings, a division of the Qatar Investment Authority, which identifies ways to make a return on the country’s oil billions.

But the source indicated the offer could be made privately, or through a separate vehicle owned by the Al Thanis.

The revived takeover talk comes with the club preparing to unveil their financial resultsfor the three months to the end of 2010 on Friday. The financial presentation is expected to include a written statement by the Glazers oftheir commitment to continued ownership of United.

While Qatar’s preference is a lone bid, it is also considering a Plan B that would see it go into partnership with the Red Knights, a group of wealthy United fans who put a £1bn bid for the club on ice last year. The collective of City financiers and wealthy fans have made clear their determination to wrest control of the club from the Glazers, but do not have the funds to match theAmericans’ price tag.

A partnership would combine the billions of oil-rich Qatar with the groundswell of popular backing that the Red Knights could attract from fans.

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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Wes Brown's glancing first-half header proved to be the winning goal for Manchester United

Crawley and their 9,000 travelling fans headed home with an aching sense of a chance missed as Wes Brown's first-half header proved enough to give Manchester United an unconvincing 1-0 FA Cup fifth-round win.

The hosts survived though, despite being so poor, ending the game with Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez occupying wide positions, either side of an ineffective Gabriel Obertan and an anonymous Bebe